Package for transporting liquids

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus is disclosed for transporting and storing concentrated liquids such as battery acid which must be diluted before usage. An absorbent body of open-celled material is impregnated with the concentrated liquid, and placed inside a heat-resistant plastic container. The plastic container has expandable side-walls and a filling and pouring orifice on its top wall. At the site of use, the plastic body is expanded to about 4 times its original volume, and filled with water. After mixing, the diluted liquid is ready to be poured from the plastic container.

United States Patent 1 Jensen 1 Apr. 23, 1974 [52] U.S. Cl 141/114, 136/162, 136/181,

206/47 A [51] Int. Cl B65b 3/04 [58] Field of Search 141/1, 9, 100, 105, 106,

141/114, 313, 366, 392; 136/162, 181; 206/46 FC, 47 A, DIG. 30; 220/9 F [56] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 3,302,815 2/1967 Morrison 220/9 F 3,238,599 3/1966 Bauman 206/46 FC 3,229,936 1/1966 Quillinan 206/46 FC 3,643,268 2/1972 Stamberger 206/D1G. 30

Primary Examiner-H0uston 8. Bell, Jr.

Attorney, Agent, or Firm-D. Henry Stoltenberg; R0bert H. Johnson; Vincent L. Barker, Jr.

57 4 ABSTRACT A method and apparatus is disclosed for transporting and storing concentrated liquids such as battery acid which must be diluted before usage. An absorbent body of open-celled material is impregnated with the concentrated liquid, and placed inside a heat-resistant plastic container. The plastic container has expandable side-walls and a filling and pouring orifice on its top wall. At the site of use, the plastic body is expanded to about 4 times its original volume, and filled with water. After mixing, the diluted liquid is ready to be poured from'the plastic container.

3 Claims, 4 Drawing [Figures 1 PACKAGE FOR TRANSPORTING LIQUIDS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The battery acid can be shipped in either a concen trated or dilute form. If shipped in a concentrated form, the battery installer or user must dilute the acid to the correct required concentration. This is often a problem where retail facilities and personnel are not well equipped or trained to handle battery acid. When the acid must be shipped to foreign countries, additional problems are created, such as printing instructions in foreign languages. In addition, the installer or user may not be capable of reading and understanding instructions, and may not have any simple tools or equipment readily available. Ihe acid is shipped in a dilute form ready for usage, the shipper is paying additional money for transporting water. This expense may prohibitive when the shipment is intended for remote areas.

One approach used in the prior art has been to inactivate or immobilze the concentrated sulfuric acid by combining it with a gel-forming or granular-forming no measuring instruments or other tools at the site. of use.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following drawings and detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an expandable volume apparatus containing an impregnated open-cell body, ready for shipping;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the expandable volume apparatus of FIG. 1 expanded prior to filling with water;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the expanded volume apparatus of FIG. 2 filled with water; and

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the expanded volume apparatus being used to filla conventional drycharge battery with battery electrolyte.

agent, such as finely-divided silicon-dioxide, so that,

when water is added to the battery at the point of sale, the immobilized acid is released from the gel or granular material to thus activate the battery. In this type of installation, the time required for the battery to become active, after the addition of water, is longer than desirable because the water must diffuse into and the electrolyte must diffuse from the mass of immobilized acid, and also the residual material, such as the silicon dioxide, can circulate throughout the cells to possibly interfere with the battery action.

Another approach is suggested by commonly assigned U.S. Pat. No. 3,591,422 in which a specially designed battery containing a block of absorbent foam is used to contain. the concentrated acid to which water islater added at the site of use. This approach has been successful but requires a specially designed battery construction. The present invention provides a system for use with existant conventional storage batteries.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The instant invention provides a convenient method of transporting and storing concentrated liquids, especially battery acid. An open-celled body is impregnated with the liquid and placed in a heat-resistant plastic container. The plastic container has expandable sidewalls and a filling and pouring orifice on its top wall. The plastic container is expanded, for example, to about 4 times its original volume, and filled with water. After allowing adequate time for mixing, the diluted liquid is ready to be poured from the container.

It is, therefore, a primary object of the present invention to provide an improved method and apparatus for transporting and storing concentrated liquids.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for shipping concentrated liquids which requires a minimum of printed instructions and requires DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings, FIG. 1 shows an expandable volume container 10. Thecontainer 10 is preferably made of a heat-resistant plastic material with accor' dion-type expandableside-walls 11 and a filling and pouring orifice 12'. Inside the container 10 is a block of open-celled material 13; The block 13 should be an open-celled foamed or granular material capable of absorbing a concentrated volume of liquid. The block 13 is impregnated with the concentrated liquid which is to be transported or stored. Open-celled as used herein, means that the material should have communicating voids so that it will function as a sponge to absorb and retain the concentrated liquid. The materials described in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,591,422are suitable materials.

When it is desired to use the container 10 for transporting battery acid, for example, material 13 should have an absorbency sufficient that upon filling the container 10 with water, the diluted electrolyte has a specific gravity range from 1.255 to 1.265. Necessarily, the material must be resistant to the corrosive action of the battery acid. In general, it has been found that open-celledfoamed blocks of phenolic resins, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene, polypropylene, and silicon derivatives may be used for this purpose.

, If the container 10 is used for transporting concentrated battery acid, addition of water to the container 10 will cause an increase in the water temperature as a result of the heat of chemical reaction. Because of this heat of reaction, the expandable plastic container 10 should b constructed of a plastic material that is sufficiently resistant to he to prevent softening, stretching or bursting. A pstic material such as polytetrafluoroethylene is suitably heat-resistanand flexible for use in the present invention and others will be apparentto those skilled in the art. y I

The absorbent block of metal 13 will retain a sub-" stantial amount of the heat of chemicl raction gener ated upon mixing of the acid in water. It is preferable that the block 13 be positionedsuch as in the middle of the container 10 as shown in FIG. 3. This allows adquate circulation of the water throughout the container 10. Circulation of the wat-acidolution will eliminate excessive heating of the container side-walls, and maintain the localized heating effect within acceptable limits. After an adequate amount of mixing time,the dilured acid is ready to be poured into a conventional dry-charge battery as shown in FIG. 4.

Although it s only necessary to supply a single closable filling and pouring orifice 12, a preferred embodiment is shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4. By molding or attaching a flexible tube 14 to the orifice l2, filling of the container 10, and subsequent pouring ofhe diluted acis conveniently accomplished.

It will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the instant invention will be useful in numerous applications wherein it is desired to transport or store a concentrated liquid which must be diluted prior to usage. Variou othe advantages and modifications of the above described preferred embodiment will be apparent to those skilled in the art and may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of thappended claims.

said envelope comprising a liquid impervious flexible said liquid concentrate by an amount equal to said predetermined ratio.

2. The package of claim 1 wherein said foam block is positioned centrally within said expanded envelope when said envelope is expanded.

3. The package of claim 1 wherein said flexible envelope includes side walls having accordian-type pleats which, when extended, expand said envelope in one dimension away from opposed faces of said foam block such that said foam block remains centrally positioned within said expanded envelope. 1 

1. A package for transporting a liquid concentrate comprising an open-celled block of absorbent foam material placed within a closed liquid tight envelope, said envelope comprising a liquid impervious flexible skin having a collapsed and an expanded condition, which envelope, when collapsed, defines an interior envelope space having a volume substantially equal to that of said foam block and which, when expanded, defines an increased interior space volume having a predetermined ratio to the collapsed volume, and means for adding further liquid to the interior of said envelope when expanded whereby, when said foam block is initialy saturated with a liquid concentrate, said envelope may be expanded and filled with further liquid to dilute said liquid concentrate by an amount equal to said predetermined ratio.
 2. The package of claim 1 wherein said foam block is positioned centrally within said expanded envelope when said envelope is expanded.
 3. The package of claim 1 wherein said flexible envelope includes side walls having accordian-type pleats which, when extended, expand said envelope in one dimension away from opposed faces of said foam block such that said foam block remains centrally positioned within said expanded envelope. 